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It is the question in every football fan’s mind. It is one of the most mind boggling queries of all time. As a matter of fact, it is right up there with, “Is the world coming to an end in 2012?” But sadly, it is a question that sorely misses a unanimous answer. The question is “Who is a better football player, Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi? When the great football team giants like the Barcelona and the Real Madrid collide, the real battle takes place between its respective titans- Messi and Ronaldo.

To come nearer to an accurate answer, one must take a closer look at the lives, accomplishments, statistics and setbacks of both the players. Let us start with the Portuguese forward and the Real Madrid player- Ronaldo. He hails from a small town, south of Portugal and became an accomplished football player by the time he turned a teenager. He has previously played with the other Premier League heavy weights such as Liverpool and the Manchester United. He constantly strived and pushed himself to the limits to live up to his idols such as David Beckham and George Best. He has amassed an astounding number of titles and awards in his time, which include PFA Player of the year, World Soccer Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year.

Messi, in all manner of speaking, is Ronaldo’s Argentinian counterpart. He is Barcelon’s defender and the captain of the Argentina national team. He was the winner of the prestigious Ballon d’Or in 2009. Lional Messi’s profile is cluttered with plaudits the likes of which include, FIFA World Player of the Year, FIFA Ballon d’Or and the UEFA Best Player in Europe Award. He also has an Olympic gold to show for his victory in 2008 Beijing Olympics. In 2005, Messi was the top scorer of the FIFA World Youth Championship.

When compared to Ronaldo, Lionel Messi’s statistics are not even a bit further behind. They stand neck to neck when it comes to skills, goals scored, remuneration and worldwide stardom. In 2009, Cristiano Ronaldo became the world’s most expensive player when he signed with Real Madrid for a fee of Dollar 131 million. That record was beaten by Messi when he recently renewed his contract with Barcelona at Euro 27.5 million. This has caused Ronaldo a great deal of frustration who in turn has retorted with threats that he would leave Real Madrid, unless and until he is compensated handsomely.

One could have sliced the tension in the air, with a knife, that day. The crowd waited with abated breath, for the verdict and once the conclusion was reached broke into ear-drum shattering applause. Cheteshwar Pujara had scored a triple hundred, a second in First Class Cricket. The triple hundred is in fact the fifth in Cheteshwar Pujara’s profile. He had previously attained a similar number once at the Under-14 level, twice at the Under-22 level and twice more in the Ranji trophy tournaments.

The amazing feat could not have transpired at a more appropriate time- just days before the upcoming One Day International series against England. The achievement not only secured him a spot in the Indian cricket team, but also will hold his position in good stead prior to facing the Brits at the ODIs. The right handed batsman, who usually takes his own time at the crease, showed he is all serious business when he brought out his aggressive side to slam 352 runs off 527 balls, which is incidentally the highest a Ranji trophy player has ever scored. Previously he was the highest scorer of the Indian team that toured England during the summer of 2010.

Cheteshwar Pujara has always proved that he is not without mettle since his foray into the cricketing franchise. He scored his very first triple century for local side Saurashtra at the National U-14 tournament, when he was just twelve years of age. He has maintained a consistency in his game since then, which is more than what you can say for some of the so called prolific players of Indian cricket team. He made his Under-19 Test debut against the England team in 2005. He helped India to victory by scoring 211 runs. Then came the 2006 Under-19 Cricket World Cup, in which he was adjudged the leading run scorer with 349 runs from 6 innings. He scored his first International test century against New Zealand on 23 August 2012. But it was not until his ‘second debut’ that he began to be accepted as a regular in the squad.

He has also played Indian Premier League team Kolkata Knight Riders for the first three seasons. After this he was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2011 but a knee injury rendered him inactive for nearly a year. With Rahul Dravid and V.V.S Laxman out of the picture, India looks to this talented player to fill in the shoe of the next best middle order batsman.